1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a contacting apparatus for chip-cards of different types, i.e., chip-cards with contacts being arranged in different arrays and locations on the card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A contacting apparatus for a chip-card is already known wherein a set of contact elements is used which comprises a plurality of contact elements, so as to provide for a contact or termination with the card contacts which are placed on the upper surface of a chip-card. Each of the contact elements of the set of contact elements comprises one end which is adapted for contacting one of the card contacts. The other end of each of said contact elements of the set of contact elements is used for providing the connection to an electronic card processing means for processing the data stored in the chip-card. It is known to either move the card towards the contact elements of the set of contact elements, so as to provide the desired contacting operation, or else it is also possible to move the contact elements towards the card, so as to provide the contacting operation with the card contacts.
Specifically, reference is made to the prior art as represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,775, and German applications Nos. 32 35 654 and 34 33 316.
As it turns out, different types of chip-cards are used in practice. For the standard chip-card presently used in France, the card contacts are located at a different location on the upper surface of the card compared with the location of the card contacts of a standard chip-card presently used in Germany. The known contact apparatus can be used only for one type of chip-card.
It would be desirable to provide a contacting apparatus for chip-cards such that it may be used in connection with chip-cards of different types.
It would also be desirable to provide a chip-card contacting apparatus which can be used for two types of chip-cards, specifically for chip-cards of the French standard card type and for chip-cards of the German standard card type.
A contacting apparatus which is useful for two types of chip-cards may be referred to as a dual-contacting apparatus.